Global Voices » Guatemalahttp://globalvoicesonline.org
Citizen media stories from around the worldTue, 31 Mar 2015 20:38:33 +0000en-UShourly1http://wordpress.org/?v=3.8.5Citizen media stories from around the worldGlobal VoicescleanCreative Commons Attribution, see our Attribution Policy for details.Citizen media stories from around the worldinternet, blogs, citizen media, podcasting, internationalGlobal Voices » Guatemalahttp://img.globalvoicesonline.org/Logos/GV-Logo-Vertical/gv-logo-below-square-144.gifhttp://globalvoicesonline.org/-/world/latin-america/guatemala/
Before the Border: The immigrant Odyseey across Mexicohttp://globalvoicesonline.org/2015/03/31/before-the-border-the-immigrant-odyseey-across-mexico/
http://globalvoicesonline.org/2015/03/31/before-the-border-the-immigrant-odyseey-across-mexico/#commentsTue, 31 Mar 2015 20:32:45 +0000http://globalvoicesonline.org/?p=516234The perils of crossing the border between Mexico and the United States are well documented, but for thousands of undocumented migrants from Central America, crossing Mexico is even more dangerous.

To reach the US border, undocumented migrants from Central America undertake a dangerous 1500-mile trip through Mexico, where they risk being kidnapped, assaulted or killed by the drug cartels, gangs and even the police. What happens in that journey?

This animation will take you through that journey, explaining the threats that migrants face to reach the “safety” of the US.

“Naciendo” (Emerging) is a new theater production from Las Poderosas. Image provided by the group and published with permission.

With performances that are equal parts therapeutic and empowering, Guatemalan theater group Las Poderosas (Powerful Women) is sending a powerful message for gender equality and against gender-based violence from the stage. Since 2008, their work has expanded across social media and the region. For these women, theater is a means to heal, condemn, communicate, and raise awareness within a country where, according to information from UN Women, “two women a day are killed on average.

The group formed after participating in a theater experiment in Marco Canale’s documentary “Hoy puedo ser” (Today I can be). The experience lead these women to devote themselves fully to exploring the power of testimony and the world of emotions. Their main focus is writing and performing plays that reveal the various forms of violence, from the most evident to the most subtle, that go undetected in everyday life, only to be noticed when collectively observed.

These seven women and their children were bitten by the theater bug, so they decided to continue with the production and perform across the length and breadth of Guatemala. [...] Through a twist of fate and a dream held by one of the participants, Lesbia Téllez, Las Poderosas was born; the survivors appeared on the stage dressed as luchadoras [wrestlers]. This unparalleled theater company's mission is to heal those who have been subjected to violence through catharsis and the creative space that the stage offers. [...] When asked what the theater means to them, this seven-woman “Justice League” [...] doesn’t hesitate to assure that it has been their salvation and a driving force for change in their lives.

The group’s “trailer” gives a better idea of their style and approach. The video shows members of Las Poderosas sharing their own experiences:

My husband ordered me killed. I was shot in the heart. I lost my arm; but I got justice.

Las Poderosas also participate in community work with women from different regions, both inside and outside of Guatemala. They encourage women to share their experiences in order to draw attention to the problem of violence and provide solutions for it. An example of their efforts is their involvement in International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women with “close to 60 women from 8 municipalities within the Sololá Department of Guatemala; some of them being leaders and violence survivors.”

Their most recent performance, “Naciendo” (Emerging), delves into the many facets of violence, including its presence in Guatemala’s mixed heritage and the country's painful civil war, which left more than 250,000 dead. More profoundly, however, this new production initiates conversations about the body, sex, and most importantly, soul-searching:

[“Naciendo”] emerges from an investigation of our sexuality, our origins, and the war. We speak to our mothers, daughters, granddaughters, and women who have survived armed conflict, searching for traces of our history, country, and bodies. What is it that we are living? What are we about to live?

Doing this production, remembering, trying to understand the darkness and the light, naming, singing, or speaking about how we make love was a way of gazing into the eyes of that ever-so-wide path that each one of us keeps inside.

]]>http://globalvoicesonline.org/2015/03/19/how-guatemalan-group-las-poderosas-uses-theater-to-confront-violence-against-women/feed/1Spain and Latin America Celebrate Open Data Dayhttp://globalvoicesonline.org/2015/03/06/spain-and-latin-america-celebrate-open-data-day/
http://globalvoicesonline.org/2015/03/06/spain-and-latin-america-celebrate-open-data-day/#commentsFri, 06 Mar 2015 18:58:53 +0000http://globalvoicesonline.org/?p=511846One again, bloggers, hackers, designers, experts, as well as citizens interested in open data and transparency will meet to celebrate International Open Data Day 2015 all over the world to promote the opening of government data. The event is expected to have online meetings but also in-person activities all over the globe, requiring exceptional coordination and organization.

Open Data Day 2015, image from Escuela de Datos. Used by permission

Faeriedevilish, blogging for School of Data, informs us on the Open Data Day festivities to take place on Saturday, February 21st in Spain and various cities in Latin America. Here you'll find information about the organization and event coordination in Buenos Aires, Lima, Medellín, Madrid, Mexico City, Xalapa, Monterrey, San Salvador, Panama City, etc., where many different activities will be held:

Alert – We're meeting at Abierto al Público: we want #datosabiertos (#opendata) to trend on Twitter on February 21st. To do so, we'll be tweeting participating organizations with this hashtag (and we ask participants to do the same) on Saturday, February 21st starting at 10:00 in Mexico City, 11:00 in Buenos Aires, 17:00 in Madrid. Important: do not use the hashtag before this time.

Click here for more information on the International Open Data Day festivities.

Five weeks ago, reports emerged from the highlands of Guatemala documenting indigenous communities under attack by the national police force. Testimony of men beaten and dragged away in front of their families, along with images of homes burning to the ground, are reminiscent of stories from the Guatemalan genocide thirty years ago, when the army used violence against entire Mayan communities. While details are unclear due to grave dangers faced by activists and independent journalists working in the region, online reports from community media outlets paint a picture of a deadly three-day police raid of indigenous villages.

The video above, titled “Eviction in Rio Dolores,” is described as showing the community of Monte Olivo on August 14. It captures a standoff on a dirt road between throngs of Guatemalan police officers and children from the community protesting against the eviction. Monte Olivo is known as the center of resistance to the hydroelectric dam. Last year, two children were shot and killed there by suspected contractors of the company behind the project.

This raw footage is described as showing the community of Semococh the following day. From a vantage point above the streets, it shows dozens of police vehicles blocking a road, and men throwing rocks at them. As the vehicles drive away, tear gas canisters go off, and then officers return suddenly on foot, running in riot gear into the village. The sound of gunfire can be heard throughout the video.

A report published on August 15 by Prensa Comunitaria details the raid that took place that day, including the killing of two Q’ecqhí villagers (a third later died of injuries), the arbitrary detention of five people, and more than 60 injuries.

The video above is described as testimony from a Semococh resident about what happened that day. Speaking in Q’eqchí (a Spanish translation begins at 4:05), she recounts how police officers forced their way into her home. As she tried to cover her children from a cloud of tear gas, they beat her husband with guns and dragged him out of the house. The Spanish translator off-camera adds (at 5:57) that he heard one say they would even kill her. “But another officer said to leave her. It’s bad luck,” they said, “to attack a woman with a baby in her arms.”

The following day, Prensa Comunitaria published photographs of police officers standing by as structures burn down, and a fleet of police vehicles driving along a dirt road for as far as the eye can see. According to the article, the homes of 50 Q’eqchí families were destroyed within hours. The outlet reported that several other nearby communities experienced similar raids by a large contingent of the national police force from August 14 through 16.

The police spokesperson told the press that the three deaths resulted from confrontations between indigenous communities against and those in favor of the hydroelectric project.

Migrant children in a schooclass. Image on Flickr by user pies cansados (CC BY-ND 2.0).

In an opinion piece for the American newspaper Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Global Voices contributor Jamie Stark wonders, “What kind of parent would pay $10,000 for a stranger to bring a child 1,400 miles through gangland and hostile border crossings? A good parent, perhaps.”

As a concerned citizen about the crisis of migrant children, Stark reflects:

What do we do with these kids? An important decision, to be certain, but one that overlooks the humanity, the story, of each child crossing our border.
[...]
When a parent from Central America hears the rumor that children are being allowed to stay in the U.S., it's not so hard to imagine spending life savings of $10,000 to $15,000 for a stranger to guide a son or daughter north.
[...]
These kids are not mere statistics. Many never wanted to be here in the first place.

Ecuadorean newscaster, psychologist and model María Magdalena Stahl Hurtado, a U.S. citizen of German heritage, strolled through the La Aurora airport in Guatemala one May afternoon in 2010. At almost 5'9″, her elegant figure was a magnet for the eyes.

Carlos, an anti-drug officer, was captured by Stahl's magnetic field; she had almost represented Ecuador in the Miss Universe pageant five years earlier. Carlos approached her for a routine screening for which passengers are randomly selected. Truth be told, his choice of Stahl was based more on her attractive figure than on any grounds for suspicion. But when he looked her in the eyes, he saw the fear characteristic of those who have something to hide.

He was trained for this. He began a barrage of questions; Stahl did not resist. Carlos asked to search her luggage; she objected, but had to give in. After several hours of counting, the Public Ministry calculated that there was $435,762 USD hidden in the luggage that Stahl was taking to Panama. According to the General Subdivision of Anti-Narcotics Information Analysis (SGDAIA), a total of $9.9 million USD was seized from passengers of various nationalities and profiles trying to transport undeclared money out of La Aurora International Airport between 2010 and 2013.

The latest reported case is that of Coatepeque soccer coach Richard Alexis Preza Herrera, who was arrested for transporting $14.6 million USD. At his trial he was fined 600,000 quetzals ($7,750 USD) and was prohibited from leaving the country. Of the past four years, 2011 saw the most money seized: a total of $5.7 million USD. The year before, in 2010, $2.2 million USD was confiscated. The total decreased to $859,000 in 2012 and reached $969,000 in 2013.

How money gets moved

The $9.9 million USD was confiscated from 67 individuals, an average of $147,000 per person. However, the amount carried by each person ranged from $12,000 to $1 million.

Credit: Prensa Libre.

Techniques for transporting hidden money also varied wildly: bills stuck in books and notebooks, hidden in the heels of shoes, stuffed into belts, or concealed on the body and secured with stockings or adhesive tape.

Money has also been concealed in cans of beans, in the false bottoms of suitcases masked with carbon paper, and even in the stomach, after being swallowed in latex capsules. “The only limit is the imagination,” says Rolando Rodenas, head of the·Anti-Money Laundering Prosecutors’ Office.

Rodenas says that there are other forms of getting money out of the country without the need to hide it, although these other methods leave a trail of evidence that may be sufficient to get the perpetrators caught.

“The law states that up to $10,000 USD can be transported without declaration. Thus there are people who travel with $9,700 or $9,800, just barely within the legal limit,” says Rodenas. At least two large groups of runners, each carrying legal amounts of money, have been caught transporting money to Panama, the primary destination for money laundering.

According to Rodenas, another way to transport money was to claim that the runners were managers or employees of businesses who were traveling to make deals or purchases. After months of investigation, it was determined that the businesses were only a cover and that they had no real financial activities. In fact, money launderers continue to use this method.

“That's how they're getting the money out of the country. They're doing what the law permits,” says Rodenas, who will not venture a guess as to the amounts of money that are taken out of the country illegally. “It's difficult to give a figure; a study would have to be performed,” he says.

Élmer Sosa, head of the SGDAIA, declined to be interviewed for this article. However, his staff at La Aurora International Airport estimate that the confiscated money represents only 10 percent of the amount that leaves the country in suitcases: “hidden or declared, but without legal ground,” claims an agent who requested anonymity.

A report from Global Financial Integrity (GFI) states that between 2002 and 2011, Guatemala moved 10 percent of Central America's total dirty money, which may be as much as $14 billion USD. Guatemala's illicit financial flow of $1.3 billion puts it in fourth place after Costa Rica (4.3 billion), Panama (3.9 billion), and Honduras (2.8 billion). El Salvador's illicit financial flow was $1 billion and Nicaragua's was $700 million.

“About two years ago, personnel identified some 45 people who were traveling with $9,800 or $9,700 on the same flight to Panama!” explains the agent.

This number seems believable after the capture of members of a group that the Public Prosecutor has baptized the Pitufos (the Smurfs), led by David Cervantes Urízar. According to the Prosecutors’ Office, this group alone coordinated 20 trips to Panama, laundering approximately $3 million per month.

Another trafficking group caught by the Prosecutors’ Office was one called Véliz-Palomo (the surnames of two members). The Prosecutors’ Office determined that over the course of a year, between 2010 and 2011, the group organized 20 trips per week to bring money to Panama. In 2012, a tribunal sentenced 48 members of the group to terms of 3 to 56 years behind bars.

A presiding court sent María Magdalena Stahl Hurtado to prison, which initiated a penal process for money laundering.

A few days later, judge Adrián Rolando Rodríguez Arana, of the Seventh Court of First Criminal Instance, let Stahl go free while the investigation continued. On March 29, 2011, Rodríguez Arana decided to indefinitely shelve the case and return the money to Stahl. The International Commission against Impunity sought an investigation into this action.

The money laundering route

According to the itineraries of detained runners, there are two clear routes used for transporting money via airports. The first is Guatemala-Panama. According to police records, 37 people transported $7.5 million USD on this route. Some were forced to return to Guatemala, where they were arrested upon arrival. “We cooperate with authorities in that country because people repeatedly try to take money there,” said Rodenas.

The second route is Guatemala-Colombia. Eleven people, carrying $1.2 million USD, tried to take this route.

The third is Guatemala-Costa Rica, where eight travelers were caught transporting $224,000 USD. There was also an attempt to transport more money to Venezuela, but that was only one case.

The authorities in El Salvador issued warnings after capturing various Guatemalans who managed to slip past La Aurora airport security but were detained in El Salvador as they attempted to leave for Panama. Of the 67 detained individuals, 37 percent are Guatemalan, 20 percent Colombian, and 10 percent Mexican.

El Salvador: another key stop for money laundering

More than $3 million USD has been confiscated in El Salvador's international airport in the last five years. Sixty-nine people have been caught.

According to the El Salvador police, 48 of the detained are foreigners, mainly from Guatemala and Mexico.

According to the detained individuals’ flight itineraries, there are two clear routes taken by those trying to take money out of El Salvador. Most frequently, travelers leave from Guatemala, stop in El Salvador, and then leave for Panama. A total of 38 percent of the detained travelers reported Panama as their final destination. The second frequent route starts in Mexico, stops in El Salvador, and ends in Colombia; 11 percent of the detained travelers intended to go to Colombia.

If the money is moving south, that means it's intended to pay for drugs that have already been sent or are going to be purchased. The final destination is Panama because that's the financial center of the world; there are a lot of banks. We think that that's why Panama is the most convenient location for drug traffickers established in Panama or Colombia to receive money and put it in banks,” says Marco Tulio Lima, chief of the Anti-Narcotics Division of El Salvador's National Civil Police.

Money laundering expert Daniel Rico, of the Washington-based think tank The Wilson Center, explains that criminal groups that illegally move cash via border crossings such as airports are “small criminal organizations that need to move cash urgently in order to make payments.”

Rico says that the transport of cash via airports is “the most primitive and vulnerable method of money laundering,” only used by organizations who do not have the financial and logistical means to use more sophisticated systems like the creation of false companies or the laundering of money by means of financial institutions.

The confiscations in El Salvador's airport are grounded in intuition. “We analyze the individual's origin and nationality, the payment method, the duration of stay, the intended destination. Our units study individual profiles; there are no full searches of the plane,” explains the head of the anti-narcotics unit in El Salvador. He adds that no El Salvadorian money laundering structures have been found, and that the existing groups are from other countries.

This report is by Luis Ángel Sas of Prensa Libre, with information from Jessica Ávalos and Nelson Rauda (La Prensa Gráfica, El Salvador), as part of the Investigative Reporting Initiative in the Americas, a program by the International Center for Journalists (ICFJ) in collaboration with CONNECTAS.

]]>http://globalvoicesonline.org/2014/07/17/money-laundering-la-aurora-airport/feed/1The Maya Nut, a Nature Gianthttp://globalvoicesonline.org/2014/07/17/the-maya-nut-a-nature-giant/
http://globalvoicesonline.org/2014/07/17/the-maya-nut-a-nature-giant/#commentsThu, 17 Jul 2014 00:01:10 +0000http://globalvoicesonline.org/?p=480504In the Guatemalan department of Petén, a group of local women market natural products prepared with Maya nut, well known as natural medicine. The president of the producer association, Benedicta Galicia Ramírez, notes they “pick up the seed and then dry it, toast and grind it to make fluor”, and that the Maya nut enhances children growth, with food values higher than maize, beans, cassava and plantain.

This species grows in many American countries, from Mexico to Peru, and is very appreciated for its medicinal and nutritious attributes:

]]>http://globalvoicesonline.org/2014/07/17/the-maya-nut-a-nature-giant/feed/1The Humanitarian Tragedy of Children Emigrating Alonehttp://globalvoicesonline.org/2014/06/21/mexico-humanitary-tragedy-children-emigrating-by-themselves/
http://globalvoicesonline.org/2014/06/21/mexico-humanitary-tragedy-children-emigrating-by-themselves/#commentsSat, 21 Jun 2014 06:00:33 +0000http://globalvoicesonline.org/?p=476647From Mexico, Katia D'Artigues, author of the blog Campos Elíseos (Champs Elysées), writes about the children who see themselves forced to emigrate on their own [es], and calls this a “humanitarian tragedy”:

They are children who are pulled to cross the border by themselves. They don't do it for the sake of adventure, but because most of the times they don't have any more choices, out of poverty; because they are looking to reunite with a relative, maybe their father or mother who is already in the United States. Figures grow day by day. They are already counted by the thousands and at least a hundred are put into custody every day, according to unofficial numbers.

How are those children? No matter their status and citizenship, they are children and have rights. [...] It's established already that they will be provided an attorney for free to assess their process, which obviously is one per child. For now, there are only 100 attorneys who will start working by December this year or January 2015.
They won't be enough.

]]>http://globalvoicesonline.org/2014/06/21/mexico-humanitary-tragedy-children-emigrating-by-themselves/feed/3Hackers Are on the Money Trailhttp://globalvoicesonline.org/2014/06/03/hackers-are-on-the-money-trail/
http://globalvoicesonline.org/2014/06/03/hackers-are-on-the-money-trail/#commentsTue, 03 Jun 2014 22:05:31 +0000http://globalvoicesonline.org/?p=473326[Links are to Spanish-language pages except where noted otherwise.]

This is not about hackers making millions of dollars, although that would not be a bad thing. No, it is about a recent initiative by Hacks/Hackers [en], a Latin American network that brings together coders and journalists to explore how technology can be exploited to filter information and, at the same time, how that information can be used to tell stories.

[The Money Trail: 13 thriving cities in Latin America + Miami. Hundreds of Latin American citizens making history together, an opportunity to accelerate open data projects and attend “Media Party 2014”. Saturday, June 7, 2014.]

We are putting together the first regional hackathon, a simultaneous hack day in different cities across Latin America under the banner “The Money Trail”. We will be looking at where public funds are spent in our countries, what the relationship is between them, what volume of foreign aid is involved and where it all goes, etc.

The goal is twofold: on the one hand to encourage transparency, efficient management of public coffers, and citizen engagement and, on the other, to have an impact on what journalists write about and foster the creation of interactive news teams.

The event, which takes place Saturday, June 7, 2014, will bring together multidisciplinary teams from a host of local chapters of Hacks/Hackers in cities such as Asunción, Bogotá, Buenos Aires, Guatemala, La Paz, Lima, Mendoza, Mexico City, Miami, Montevideo, Rosario, San José, San Pablo and Santiago.

If helping fellow citizens by working towards greater transparency in the use of public funds were not enough of a reason to participate, there is the added incentive of prize money: five winning projects could be the recipients of US $2,000, and a grand prize worth US $10,000 will be awarded by HacksLabs.org, Latin America's first data journalism accelerator.

The hackathon will build on and be inspired by some of the great money-tracking projects taking shape in the region and around the world, such as VozData, a project of the newspaper La Nación (Argentina) that analyzes Argentine senate spending. The African project Where My Money Dey? examines whether mining companies in Ghana actually return 3 percent of their profits to residents, as required by law. And in the European Union, the site Farmsubsidy.org intends to shine a light on the 55 billion euros spent on farm subsidies.

What's more, at Hacks/Hacker, if anyone feels the urge to organize a hackathon themselves but is not sure where to start, a handy guide is available in Spanish. Among the tips provided are the following:

The heart of Hacks/Hackers is the community of journalists, but the motor that drives it is the community of coders. Search out well-known journalists, real geeks, those willing to change the way they work from the inside out. Bloggers too, who are willing to write about up-and-coming issues. Convince those journalists to publish stories about the event to help enhance its profile. Having a network of internal journalists is crucial for the activities of the group.

Participants can already start uploading their ideas to HackDash del evento. Poke around the site, and you just might stumble onto an inspiring idea for your own project!

Last but not least, the Follow the Money regional hackathon takes place under the auspices of Hacks/Hackers and is part of a comprehensive media innovation program supported by the International Center For Journalists, the Knight Foundation, Knight Mozilla Open News, PinLatam, and the World Bank Institute in Latin America.

]]>http://globalvoicesonline.org/2014/06/03/hackers-are-on-the-money-trail/feed/4Landslides After Heavy Rains Cause Death in Guatemalahttp://globalvoicesonline.org/2014/06/02/landslides-after-heavy-rains-cause-death-in-guatemala/
http://globalvoicesonline.org/2014/06/02/landslides-after-heavy-rains-cause-death-in-guatemala/#commentsMon, 02 Jun 2014 06:00:05 +0000http://globalvoicesonline.org/?p=473367Heavy rains on the early hours of Saturday, May 31, 2014 in the Guatemalan municipality of San Pedro Necta, in the department of Huehuetenango, 312 kilometers North from the country capital, resulted in landslides that destroyed homes and caused at least six fatalities and three disappeared individuals, as reported by Conred [es] (National Coordinator for Disaster Reduction):

]]>http://globalvoicesonline.org/2014/06/02/landslides-after-heavy-rains-cause-death-in-guatemala/feed/1Quintuplet Birth in Guatemalahttp://globalvoicesonline.org/2014/05/31/quintuplets-birth-in-guatemala/
http://globalvoicesonline.org/2014/05/31/quintuplets-birth-in-guatemala/#commentsSat, 31 May 2014 06:00:41 +0000http://globalvoicesonline.org/?p=473230Guatemalan media is reporting [es] a quintuplet birth in Guatemala City. The babies’ weight, three girls and two boys, is between one pound with 9 ounces and two pounds with 12 ounces, a weight to be expected as they were delivered on the 29th week of pregnancy. They were immediately admited in the high risk neontal ward. The mother, Maria Magdalena Jiménez, had had previous conceiving difficulties, so she went through a fertility treatment, with the result of this multiple pregnancy. The babies have stable health conditions, but are under medical observation.

]]>http://globalvoicesonline.org/2014/05/31/quintuplets-birth-in-guatemala/feed/1Guatemala: Violent Eviction of the La Puya Peaceful Mining Resistancehttp://globalvoicesonline.org/2014/05/27/guatemala-violent-eviction-of-the-la-puya-peaceful-mining-resistance/
http://globalvoicesonline.org/2014/05/27/guatemala-violent-eviction-of-the-la-puya-peaceful-mining-resistance/#commentsTue, 27 May 2014 06:00:53 +0000http://globalvoicesonline.org/?p=472714The blog MiMundo.org, by James Rodriguez, writes about the eviction that took place in La Puya, San Pedro Ayampuc and San José del Golfo, in Guatemala:

After two years and two months of peacefully blocking the entrance to U.S.-based Kappes, Cassiday & Associates (KCA) El Tambor gold mine, local residents of San Jose del Golfo and San Pedro Ayampuc were violently evicted by Guatemalan Police forces in order to introduce heavy machinery inside the industrial site. Led by the local women, members of the La Puya resistance prayed and sang until they were faced with tear gas. Numerous locals were injured and detained.

He also posts pictures of the events that took place during the eviction.

]]>http://globalvoicesonline.org/2014/05/27/guatemala-violent-eviction-of-the-la-puya-peaceful-mining-resistance/feed/6Guatemala: Ex President Portillo Sentenced to Five Years in Jailhttp://globalvoicesonline.org/2014/05/23/guatemala-expresident-portillo-sentenced-to-five-years-in-jail/
http://globalvoicesonline.org/2014/05/23/guatemala-expresident-portillo-sentenced-to-five-years-in-jail/#commentsFri, 23 May 2014 06:00:06 +0000http://globalvoicesonline.org/?p=472301With a historic rule by a federal court in New York on May 22, 2014, former Guatemalan president Alfonso Portillo was sentenced to five years and 10 months in jail for money laundering and taking bribes from Taiwan.

Stories are powerful. They define who we are and what we care about. When the stories that are told about us are positive, they can empower us. When they are desolate, they can make us feel insecure or question ourselves.

¡PODER! (Spanish word that means power) is a docudrama film, directed, written and edited by Lisa Russell, Emmy-winning filmmaker. This film tells the real life story of Elba Velasquez and Emelin Cabrera, two indigenous girls from Guatemala, who challenged the mayor of their small town of Concepción Chiquirichapa to create girl-friendly municipal public policies. These public policies ensure that the local government addresses girls’ unique needs in the areas of health, education, HIV prevention and culturally-relevant family violence prevention. According non-profit Let Girls Lead, only 10 percent of Mayan girls finish primary school and nearly half have babies before they turned 18.

Are you brimming with an idea to help your community tell their story through citizen media? Do you need funding and support? Do you want to be part of a global network committed to bridging the digital gap?